Business Roundup | Senators offer plan to save Postal Service

Saturday and door-to-door mail delivery would be phased out and the Postal Service could start shipping alcoholic beverages under a plan by two key senators seeking to turn around the struggling agency's finances.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper of Delaware and the panel's ranking Republican, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, say they hope Congress can act quickly to help the agency.

The Senate plan includes changes in how pensions and retiree health care costs are handled in an attempt to stabilize the agency's finances.

A House bill also would end Saturday delivery and phase out door-to-door service over 10 years.

Fed dissenter says he wants more data

James Bullard, a voting member of the Federal Reserve, said Friday that the Fed should review more economic data before deciding whether to reduce its bond purchases.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said during a speech in Boston that he understands why some believe economic growth will pick up later this year. But he said previous forecasts for improvement have proven premature.

Bullard has expressed concerns that inflation remains too low to begin reducing the $85 billion a month in bond purchases. Bullard cast a dissenting vote at the Fed's June meeting because he felt the Fed needed to focus more on ultra-low inflation.

Earnings report

? Toyota Motor Corp. said its profit for the first quarter of the fiscal year nearly doubled from a year ago.

The maker of the Prius hybrid and Camry sedan said profit for the April-June quarter rose to 562.1 billion yen ($5.6 billion) after getting a big boost from a weak yen.

Toyota set a worldwide production goal for the 2013 calendar year of 10.1 million vehicles, which would be a record, while it stuck to its global vehicle sales goal for the year at 9.96 million vehicles. That puts it in a neck-and-neck race with General Motors Co. for the top spot.

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Business Roundup | Senators offer plan to save Postal Service

Saturday and door-to-door mail delivery would be phased out and the Postal Service could start shipping alcoholic beverages under a plan by two key senators seeking to turn around the struggling